General News Thread

[craig1985]

Is Anton going to race?

 

[Christian]

LEOPARD TREK announces squads for Köln, Romandie, Frankfurt and Dunkerque.

This means Brice Feillu, Anders Lund and Wouter Weylandt will not be part of the Giro team, as Dunkerque goes until the 8th and the Giro starts on the 7th of May. Too bad, I was hoping for Lund and Weylandt to go to the Giro.

They also left former winner Martin Pedersen (2009) out of the Rund um Köln team.

http://www.leopardtrek.lu/calendar-results

 

[Christian]

It's official: Laurent Jalabert follows in the footsteps of Laurent Fignon at France 2.

The head of the sports department of France 2, Daniel Bilalian, had tried to convince Marc Madiot (FDJ) to fill the spot, but Madiot preferred to stay in his role as Directeur Sportif.

This is the only right choice IMO, Jalabert has been doing a great job following the race on the motorbike the last years, and doing interviews after. He has also been the co-commentator for any broadcast except TdF for a few years. Last year he stepped in when Fignon was too ill to talk.

http://www.cyclismactu.net/news-france_tv_laurent_jalabert_consultant_cet_ete-14357.html

 

[Michielveedeebee]

OPL has just fired Mat Lloyd for unprofessional behavior.. They say it has nothing to do with the use of PEDs, pretty odd, he could've helped Gilbert these next few weeks

 

[The Hitch]

OPL has just fired Mat Lloyd for unprofessional behavior.. They say it has nothing to do with the use of PEDs, pretty odd, he could've helped Gilbert these next few weeks

that deserves its own thread.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

that deserves its own thread.

it has been done

 

[Freddo]

Biggest rider

Hey guys,
Just had a thought the other day and after Lance Armstrong's retirement i was wondering who is the biggest rider in terms of results, hype and how big their name is in the world of cycling. So if you went up to a random in the street and asked them to name a cyclist at this current moment, who would they answer with? Cancellara, Cavendish, Contador? Just a thought would love some feedback

 

[Jamsque]

Hey guys,
Just had a thought the other day and after Lance Armstrong's retirement i was wondering who is the biggest rider in terms of results, hype and how big their name is in the world of cycling. So if you went up to a random in the street and asked them to name a cyclist at this current moment, who would they answer with? Cancellara, Cavendish, Contador? Just a thought would love some feedback

Contador would almost certainly win the 'random in the street' test if you did it today. The Tour de France is the only race 99% of the public ever hears about, and the Clenbuterol thing meant he was in the news a lot.

 

[The Hitch]

Id be surprised if there was anyone that knew who Contador was, that hadnt heard of Andrew Schleck. The sport is so hated by the media in the west, the entire TDF gets less news coverage than the qualifying for some random f1 race. Those who can say Contadors name probably will have watched the last Tour, hence know Andrew as well.

 

[Jamsque]

I disagree. Contador's name was plastered all over the headlines of major news outlets and websites like ESPN.com that hardly cover cycling. Andy Schleck has hardly ever been mentioned by mainstream press.

 

[boomcie]

Id be surprised if there was anyone that knew who Contador was, that hadnt heard of Andrew Schleck. The sport is so hated by the media in the west, the entire TDF gets less news coverage than the qualifying for some random f1 race. Those who can say Contadors name probably will have watched the last Tour, hence know Andrew as well.

I disagree. Contador's name was plastered all over the headlines of major news outlets and websites like ESPN.com that hardly cover cycling. Andy Schleck has hardly ever been mentioned by mainstream press.

I agree with Jamsque. I can readily think of a few people who probably know Contador, but not Schleck.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Der Jan skiing and eating

Only 30 seconds down on Giradelli, but I am quiet sure that Jan can eat faster.
http://www.clipfish.de/video/3556247/jan-ullrich-im-netzathleten-interview/
http://www.clipfish.de/cfng/flash/clipfish_player_3.swf?as=0&vid=3556247&r=1&area=e&c=990000

 

[Kwibus]

It's not news, but what happened to worldcyclingchannel3. No more updates since Pais Vasco?

It was the place to be for the most recent cycling vids. I hate searching on youtube since I bump into lots of spoilers usually.

 

[killswitch]

It's not news, but what happened to worldcyclingchannel3. No more updates since Pais Vasco?

It was the place to be for the most recent cycling vids. I hate searching on youtube since I bump into lots of spoilers usually.

http://www.youtube.com/user/worldcyclingchannel3
worldcyclingchannel3 Because of recent copyright claims and other requests (by now we got a claim from about every major source), it has become impossible to maintain a 'world cycling channel' on YouTube this way. So this is where the story ends. Symbolically we've changed the background of our logo to black. Thank you for being with us in the past years. There will be some limited uploads on C11. http://www.youtube.com/user/channelC11 We've opened up the forum, feel free to put your comments.

 

[Kwibus]

http://www.youtube.com/user/worldcyclingchannel3
worldcyclingchannel3 Because of recent copyright claims and other requests (by now we got a claim from about every major source), it has become impossible to maintain a 'world cycling channel' on YouTube this way. So this is where the story ends. Symbolically we've changed the background of our logo to black. Thank you for being with us in the past years. There will be some limited uploads on C11. http://www.youtube.com/user/channelC11 We've opened up the forum, feel free to put your comments.

That's bad news

 

[Havetts]

Yep, hope Worldcyclingarchives with the climb races still uploads sometimes real shame they had to quit .

 

[roundabout]

Parcours news

Romandie 2011

anti-sprinter, but relatively straightforward for GC

http://www.tdr.ch/main/course/parcours-etapes/profils-des-etapes/prologue/index.lbl

Pologne 2011

http://2011.tourdepologne.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=233&lang=pl

No long flat stages this year

 

[The Hitch]

Pologne 2011

http://2011.tourdepologne.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=233&lang=pl

No long flat stages this year

Its good. Basically a Tour of Souther Poland other than the Warsaw opener, as stage 2 starts 220km away from the finish of stage 1.

Lots of circuits which is good and stages 5 and 6 are like an Ardennes classic, up and down all the way.

 

[jaylew]

It's not news, but what happened to worldcyclingchannel3. No more updates since Pais Vasco?

It was the place to be for the most recent cycling vids. I hate searching on youtube since I bump into lots of spoilers usually.

Yeah, sad. Here's athread talking about it a bit.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Still no climb to Spindlerova Bouha (Przelęcz Karkonoska) or Schronisko (Śnieżka)

However, a return to the Bukowina Tatrzańska finish is definitely a good thing. That was a very good stage last year.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Parcours news

Romandie 2011

anti-sprinter, but relatively straightforward for GC

http://www.tdr.ch/main/course/parcours-etapes/profils-des-etapes/prologue/index.lbl

Tomy Martin should do well in Romandie. I hate routes that don't really favour any type of rider. Romandie has a lot of those stages this year. They are not hard enough for the climbers as the final climb is too far away from the finish but they are too hard for sprinters. TT looks interesting as it looks quite hard.

Should be between Evans, Martin, Menchov and LLS.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Tomy Martin should do well in Romandie. I hate routes that don't really favour any type of rider. Romandie has a lot of those stages this year. They are not hard enough for the climbers as the final climb is too far away from the finish but they are too hard for sprinters. TT looks interesting as it looks quite hard.

Should be between Evans, Martin, Menchov and LLS.

meh martin should take this one pretty easy. we shall see tho.

How tough is the finish on stage 2?
I haven't really liked romandie in the past couple of years. It always feels like a warm-up race.

 

[auscyclefan94]

meh martin should take this one pretty easy. we shall see tho.

How tough is the finish on stage 2?
I haven't really liked romandie in the past couple of years. It always feels like a warm-up race.

The climb up to Leysin in stage 1 and the final km is 6.8%

Final km in stage 2 is at 6.5% and the whole climb is 8.5km at 4.5%. Does anyone have an official average gradient and length for the climb to leysin?

The climb in the tt looks to be 3.6km at 3.8%
Stage 1 will decide if Tony Martin can win it or not.

 

[luckyboy]

Romandie route doesn't look great.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

6.8%, 6.5%.... please if he can't hold on here he is a poorer climber then i thought.

He handled PN climb (which was harder) just fine.

agree luckyboy. Tho I only really see it as a giro warm-up nowadays, so whatever.